Ranked Choice Voting Clears First Hurdle toward November 2026 Ballot
- Jun 30
- 3 min read
Board of State Canvassers green-lights petition summary language
By Kristine Christlieb, MFEI News & Commentary Editor
June 30, 2025
LANSING, Mich. (June 28, 2025) — Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers unanimously approved petition summary language for a constitutional amendment which would enshrine ranked choice voting (RCV) as the state’s required system of voting. Board of State Canvassers meeting.
After more than four hours of testimony and debate on Friday, the 4-member board, composed of two Republicans and two Democrats, finalized the 100-word petition summary language.
Michigan Fair Elections Institute (MFEI) Director of Field Operations Jacky Eubanks, who organized volunteers to comment at Friday’s hearing, is calling the proposal “a radical and fundamental change in how elections would be conducted in Michigan.” She warned, “Voters need to realize this is a permanent, constitutional amendment forever requiring ranked choice voting. It is not a simple statute.”
Board of State Canvassers Petition Summary Language Approved June 27, 2025
Constitutional amendment to: require ranked-choice voting (RCV) for federal offices, Governor/Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State, allowing voters to numerically rank candidates by voter preference starting in 2029; count votes in rounds, eliminating lowest-ranked candidate and reallocating their votes to remaining ranked candidates until candidate with most final-round votes is declared the winner; allow voters to rank at least 4 more candidates than positions to be nominated/elected unless insufficient number of candidates; authorize local jurisdiction to adopt use of RCV in local elections; move August primary to June or earlier in even year elections; require legislative funding and implementing legislation. |
Because the Board of State Canvassers has approved the summary language, it can’t be challenged for being misleading or deceptive. The constitutional amendment summary is printed at the top of every petition.
In order to land on the November 2026 ballot, the constitutional amendment sponsors must collect 446,198 valid, registered voter signatures, i.e., 10% of the votes cast in the last gubernatorial election.
Pat Zabawa, who heads up Rank MI Vote, the organization sponsoring the constitutional amendment, told The Detroit News, “Our volunteers are ready to get out in the streets and start collecting signatures.”
According to Rank MI Vote’s website, the organization is still aggressively recruiting volunteers with outreach events planned all over the state in the next 21 days.
The Detroit News asked Zabawa if “shifting the August primary earlier was necessary because it might take more time to determine the winner in the ranked choice system.” The Detroit News summarized Zabawa’s response, claiming he “said ranked choice vote counting doesn’t take longer than the current voting process.”
Others are less optimistic. An expert opposing RCV testified on Friday: “One undeniable fact of RCV is long wait times for results.” He pointed to the current mayoral primary in New York City where RCV is the system of elections. Election day was June 24 but USA Today is reporting, “The NYC Board of Elections will release the 'rounds' of vote transfers and eliminations on July 1, 2025. . . . Official results to be available July 14.”
The wrangling over the summary language on Friday concerned how to describe the ranked choice voting process. At one point, Democrat member Heather Cummings said, “You’ve lost me. I’m extremely confused.”
That’s always been a challenge for ranked choice voting advocates. “Once you begin drilling down into the details of how ranked choice voting actually works, all kinds of difficulties emerge,” observed MFEI Founder and Chair Patrice Johnson.”
While Rank MI Vote is gearing up for the petition drive, opponents are also working strategically. “We will be encouraging voters to ‘decline to sign’ the petition,” said Eubanks. “And we will be actively engaging the grassroots on this topic. The more people know about ranked choice voting, the better. It is truly a head-scratcher that leaves most people very puzzled.”
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